COCOA-NUT OIL. 263 



inense, and the time cannot be far distant, if nature con- 

 tinues her beneficence, when labour will be so much wanted 

 on the coast of Africa that the sale of human beings will 

 be no longer possible. The imports of palm oil to England 

 alone are nearly 50,000 tuns per annum. 



The Oil Palm, besides this palm butter, yields a limpid 

 oil from the hard stony endocarp ; very little of the oil has 

 been imported, but under the name of palm-nuts, these 

 seeds have been brought to this country, for expression of 

 the oil, in considerable quantities. 



Cocoa-nut or Coker-nut Oil — is another solid vege- 

 table fat, produced by the Cocoa-nut Palm {Cocos nucifera). 

 (Plate IX. fig. 44.) 



This fat is expressed from the white albumen of the cocoa- 

 nut kernel ; it is as white as lard and rather harder, having 

 a peculiar odour, which is not very agreeable, or rather it 

 becomes very disagreeable if often smelled, even to those 

 who at first did not dislike it, otherwise it would be much 

 more extensively used both in soaps and pomatums ; in the 

 former it is sometimes used for the very coarse kinds, and 

 also for marine soap ; it is chiefly used for making cocoa 

 stearine (or cocinine), of which excellent candles are manu- 



